They added, however, “longer monitoring periods might be justified in extreme cases”.

The “costs” of extending quarantine will need to be considered, but may be justifiable in “high-risk scenarios”, such as a healthcare worker who did not wear protective gear around a patient.

“An accurate estimate of the disease incubation period for a new virus makes it easier for epidemiologists to gauge the likely dynamics of the outbreak and allows public-health officials to design effective quarantine and other control measures,” said Professor Lessler.

“Quarantines typically slow and may ultimately stop the spread of infection, even if there are some outlier cases with incubation periods that exceed the quarantine period.”

By looking at “publicly-reported cases”, the scientists noted only severe patients may have been included.

Mild incidences that did not cause symptoms could have a different incubation period, they added.

“We have to acknowledge the models [the scientists] use to estimate [the] incubation period [time between infection and symptom onset] make key assumptions and perhaps the assumption most likely to impact on their data is that a person became infected as soon as they came into contact with the virus,” said Professor Jonathan Ball, from the University of Nottingham.

“This might not be true, the real infection time point might be much later, yet assuming the infection occurred at an earlier date will make the incubation period appear longer.

“I think it is really important when dealing with this outbreak that we fully understand the limitations of studies and their findings, and also base any intervention or policy on norms, not extremes.

“As it stands there is little evidence to suggest a quarantine or self-isolation period of 14 days is not suitable.

“Also, there is little, if any, evidence that people can routinely transmit virus during the asymptomatic period.”

Patients who do not sneeze or cough, the main routes of transmission, would be expected to pass the virus to fewer people.

“The analysis shows that one case in 100 will fall outside the current 14 day incubation period, which seems to encompass the vast majority of infections,” said Professor Peter Openshaw, from Imperial College London.

“Given that no isolation advice will be adhered to perfectly, there seems no justification for changing the recommendation that 14 days of isolation is sufficient.”

A family are pictured wearing masks in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Getty Images)

What is the new coronavirus Covid-19?

Most of those who initially caught Covid-19 worked at, or visited, the “wet market” in Wuhan.

Officials confirmed early on in the outbreak the virus spreads face-to-face via droplets that have been sneezed or coughed out by a patient.